What led two pitbulls to turn on their owner?
The body of 22 year old Bethany Lynn Stephens
was discovered a mile from her home in rural Virginia,
where she had taken her two pitbulls
for a walk in the woods.
The idea of dogs turning on their master
was considered unthinkable.
And, rumors quickly spread on social media
that Bethany had been murdered.
But police took the unusual step
of showing reporters photos of the gruesome scene
to prove, without a doubt, her dogs did it.
There were no strangulation marks.
The victim had puncture wounds in the skull,
and this was not a homicide.
Robert Brandow is a dog trainer.
I've known some wonderful pitbulls,
and they are really wonderful dogs.
However, they are very dangerous,
and they need to be handled correctly,
and they need to be trained properly.
They can become aggressive.
And, if you have an aggressive incident with a pitbull,
it's usually going to result in serious bodily injury.
Brandow suspects something set the dogs off.
Something that caused them to become hyper, excited.
Then, you know, they're being held back, possibly,
then they turn, and they just lash out
at anything around them, anything that moves.
Pitbulls are notorious
for vicious, unprovoked attacks.
This video shows a guy being mauled by two pitbulls,
on a street in the Bronx, New York.
But, Brandow says attacks on a dog owner
are extremely rare, even for pitbulls.
It's very rare that your own dogs
would turn on you and kill you, and then eat you.